Today I want to offer you an excerpt from a long treatise on REALLY good works by Martin Luther (not King). Sometimes we might have preconceptions and wrong ideas about how BIG good works must be or rather ‘look like’. However, our good works can be pretty small. They might even take place without anyone noticing them… but God. Now here is the part I chose of Martin Luther’s treatise (emphasis in bold letters has been added by me). If you want to read more, follow the link beneath the excerpt.

I. We ought first to know that there are no good works except those which God has commanded, even as there is no sin except that which God has forbidden. Therefore whoever wishes to know and to do good works needs nothing else than to know God’s commandments. Thus Christ says, Matthew xix, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” And when the young man asks Him, Matthew xix, what he shall do that he may inherit eternal life, Christ sets before him naught else but the Ten Commandments. Accordingly, we must learn how to distinguish among good works from the Commandments of God, and not from the appearance, the magnitude, or the number of the works themselves, nor from the judgment of men or of human law or custom, as we see has been done and still is done, because we are blind and despise the divine Commandments.

II. The first and highest, the most precious of all good works is faith in Christ, as He says, John vi. When the Jews asked Him: “What shall we do that we may work the works of God?” He answered: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent.” When we hear or preach this word, we hasten over it and deem it a very little thing and easy to do, whereas we ought here to pause a long time and to ponder it well. For in this work all good works must be done and receive from it the inflow of their goodness, like a loan. This we must put bluntly, that men may understand it.

We find many who pray, fast, establish endowments, do this or that, lead a good life before men, and yet if you should ask them whether they are sure that what they do pleases God, they say, “No”; they do not know, or they doubt. And there are some very learned men, who mislead them, and say that it is not necessary to be sure of this; and yet, on the other hand, these same men do nothing else but teach good works. Nowall these works are done outside of faith, therefore they are nothing and altogether dead. For as their conscience stands toward God and as it believes, so also are the works which grow out of it. Now they have no faith, no good conscience toward God, therefore the works lack their head, and all their life and goodness is nothing. Hence it comes that when I exalt faith and reject such works done without faith, they accuse me of forbidding good works, when in truth I am trying hard to teach real good works of faith.

III. If you ask further, whether they count it also a good work when they work at their trade, walk, stand, eat, drink, sleep, and do all kinds of works for the nourishment of the body or for the common welfare, and whether they believe that God takes pleasure in them because of such works, you will find that they say, “No”; and they define good works so narrowly that they are made to consist only of praying in church, fasting, and almsgiving. Other works they consider to be in vain, and think that God cares nothing for them. So through their damnable unbelief they curtail and lessen the service of God, Who is served by all things whatsoever that are done, spoken or thought in faith.

So teaches Ecclesiastes ix: “Go thy way with joy, eat and drink, and know that God accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity.” “Let thy garments be always white,” that is, let all our works be good, whatever they may be, without any distinction. And they are white when I am certain and believe that they please God. Then shall the head of my soul never lack the ointment of a joyful conscience.

So Christ says, John viii: “I do always those things that please Him.” And St. John says, I. John iii: “Hereby we know that we are of the truth, if we can comfort our hearts before Him and have a good confidence. And if our heart condemns or frets us, God is greater than our heart, and we have confidence, that whatsoever we ask, we shall receive of Him, because we keep His Commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” Again: “Whosoever is born of God, that is, whoever believes and trusts God, doth not commit sin, and cannot sin.” Again, Psalm xxxiv: “None of them that trust in Him shall do sin.” And in Psalm ii: “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” If this be true, then all that they do must be good, or the evil that they do must be quickly forgiven. Behold, then, why I exalt faith so greatly, draw all works into it, and reject all works which do not flow from it.

IV. Now every one can note and tell for himself when he does what is good or what is not good; for if he finds his heart confident that it pleases God, the work is good, even if it were so small a thing as picking up a straw. If confidence is absent, or if he doubts, the work is not good, although it should raise all the dead and the man should give himself to be burned. This is the teaching of St. Paul, Romans xiv: “Whatsoever is not done of or in faith is sin.” Faith, as the chief work, and no other work, has given us the name of “believers on Christ.” For all other works a heathen, a Jew, a Turk, a sinner, may also do; but to trust firmly that he pleases God, is possible only for a Christian who is enlightened and strengthened by grace.

Susanne, thank you for sharing this excerpt of Martin Luther, as well as the link. I have been reading off and on since reading your article yesterday.

The Lord has had me in Colossians 2 and 3, with regards to our hidden life in God and what that means. Much of what M.L. wrote in this is deepening more and more the meaning of our hiddenness. Which all got started by a TAS quote on our safety being in our hiddenness; the Body’s safety. It is so directly opposed to this world, our flesh’s way of being. We believe it all must be outward and showy! Not in the least!

Yes, indeed, in the kingdom of God everything is turned upside down. The lowliest servant of God on earth becomes the greatest king in heaven while those who we rely on their flesh’s visible achievements and success will lose everything as the Lord does not dwell in them to govern their lives according to His plan.

For me it was relieving to see that our whole life, as unimportant and boring as it might seem at times, is being sanctified in every respect; even our daily routine seems to be a ‘good work’ for Him as we are connected to Christ who lives in us.

Yes, indeed it is! Being sanctified in every respect! Relieving and comforting! I recall a few months back when I was still using ear buds for listening to music (but have not now for many months due to it causing me horrible vertigo) and singing my heart out to How Great Thou Art while I cleaned the toilet. At the time it made me smile, knowing this very fact. 🙂

Oops, I just found your comment in my trash folder, Becky. That happens so often with replies, I have been wondering why… 🙄

So sweet to hear that you had similar experiences with God. It seems He knows no embarrassment, EVERYTHING is holy to Him. I sometimes used ear buds, too, when I was on a prayer walk. However, as much as I loved these times when God spoke to me directly through some songs, I had to drop this habit as THIS only happens in His timing. So, normally I do not listen to music nor sing at all – as it bores me – unless He makes it ALIVE again. Surprisingly, as always, of course. 😉

This teaching about the simplicity of living by faith I needed to hear again. I remember a time when my wife and I were the church janitors (handy man and janitor seems to be my calling) and we really put our hearts into it. Well, there was this concert one night and while the crowd was enjoying a guest musician and song writer, a man went into the men’s room and filled the pot with toilet paper and you know what. Well, when he flushed it it did not go down but the water came put to the top, so he flushed it again. You guessed it. There was a flood of water and defilement heading out from the toilet all over the restroom floor and down the hall toward the auditorium. So, the pastor grabbed my wife and I to do something about it. I started mopping it up while she stood watch that nobody tracked in it and no, the mop bucket did not have a wringer on it and I was the wringer. It was a very humbling moment in my life.

While I was finishing up the nasty job and unplugging the toilet I said to my wife, “Dorothy, I have always had this kind of calling when it comes to the church and nothing has changed.” To this she said, “You are wrong. YOU have CHANGED!” At that moment, as if to affirm her words, the presence of the Lord came down upon me like I had not known in many years. All I could do was stand there and praise Him and cry.

M.L. was right. Faith is what makes the difference. As Paul put it, “Faith works through love.” “These three remain, faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.” When it comes to works, faith makes the difference and when it comes to works, those motivated by God’s love makes ALL the difference in His eyes.

I am honored to hear that you were thinking of me when you chose this writing by Martin Luther to share with us. You know how I struggle when I go through these long periods of not having some “Biblical revelation” to write about. Yet, I have watched you write about your very wonderful and common experiences in your day by day walk of faith with Jesus and the Father. I think that the difference is exactly what Luther was talking about in this excerpt you quoted. Faith does not depend on things that we do in our religious lives… “faith is the evidence of things not seen.” You so often in the way you write give evidence to the unseen world of the Spirit, because in your simplicity you SEE things that I do not.

One time when our family was young, we were on a walk in a park and as usual our youngest son, Joe, was finding bugs, frogs and all manner of fauna and flora. So my wife said to him, “Joe, why do you always find so many interesting things when we go out for a walk?” His answer was simple, yet so convicting, “Because you don’t LOOK!” You have taught me that it takes the Eyes of Faith to SEE all the ways that our Daddy is communicating His love for us. You see His messages to you in so many things when you go out for a prayer walk. Nothing is “ordinary” to you. You have helped me see that this is why “faith is the evidence of things not seen.”

Amen to your prayer, my brother!!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 You may know that I have been praying myself lately that God might make me aware more often that He speaks with us continually. I still miss His subtle nudges and very small voice so often as I am most of the time captured in my worried thought life. 😞

But I do love what you experienced back then with your son Joe!!! 😍 He was so right! We need to LOOK (at Him with our inward (wo)man) AND then He helps us SEE! 👁👁 😊

You are so welcome, my precious brother. 💎 Thank you for being who you are and for this wonderful fellowship IN Christ. 😇🙏🏼💗🙏🏼😇

You are very welcome, dear Louise. ❤ Like you, I needed a reminder, too.

It was refreshing for me to see that I do not need to run around in circles like Martha did but to urgently seek times when I let people alone, trusting God He will do the rest, and then like Mary, sitting at His feet, listening… in silence if possible. It seems I have almost forgotten how to rest in Him over time since life can be very busy!

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“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
(John 3:16-17 ESV)

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